Some time back there was some discussion about the origins of the phrase, ‘the penny dropped’. Yesterday I was directed to The Phrase Finder. What a find!
The following phrases were chosen at random from the wealth of material:
Dogs Breakfast – a mess or muddle.
Origin: This is a 20th century phrase. Eric Partridge, in the 1937 edition of his ‘Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English’ lists it as “a mess: low Glasgow”.
Rack your brains – to strain mentally to recall or to understand something
Origin: The rack was a mediaeval torture device. The crude but, one presumes, effective racks often tore the victim’s limbs from their bodies. It isn’t surprising that ‘rack’ was adopted as a verb meaning to cause pain and anguish. Shakespeare was one of many authors who used this. For example, from Twelfth Night, 1601:
“How haue the houres rack’d, and tortur’d me, Since I haue lost thee?”
Weasel words – Ambiguous or quibbling speech.
Origin: Stewart Chaplin’s story Stained glass political platform, 1900, contains this line:
“Why, weasel words are words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the egg and leaves the shell.”
Thanks to Jonny of Do They Hurt for the link.
Glad to be of service! Hope you remembered to join their mailing list. I actually have a calendar on my desk which explains the origin of a different phrase every day – great fun. Today’s is ‘strike while the iron is hot’. You can probably work out where that came from!
No, I hadn;t signed up for the mailing list. Might do that.
Have you an example of a Weasel word by any chance?